Painting for Joy and Charity

What an amazing week this has been! It started when I had the pleasure of going to see War Room at the movie theater with my neighbor and good friend Kathy. I loved the movie. We laughed and cried and felt convicted.

Then came a time of fasting and prayer to support an amazing event in Birmingham, Alabama where thousands of Christians marched, sang, prayed and expressed a unity of faith and a desire to do something real to help the genocide of Christians happening in the Middle East today.

The word has been spread through the internet about the policies of the United States government which will not allow Christians to come here to seek asylum. We as a nation turned away Jews and sent them back to Nazi Germany during those dark days. We are repeating that evil act today.

The government of Iceland said that they would take 60 people into their small country of 300,000 people. One woman thought that was not enough and so she got on facebook and asked who would take a family into their own home. Within 24 hours 10,000 people had said yes, we will. They all urged their government to do more.

And our government is saying no, none. So, I prayed and thought what can I do? I have no money to contribute. Going on twitter and posting a silly hashtag will not help anyone who is praying not to be murdered or to not have their girls raped. What could I do? I could pray and I am. I hope you will too.

And I can paint. So today I have placed a new planner insert on ETSY. You see it here. I am charging $5.99 for a two page digital download that can be used as a planner insert or any other way you choose. It costs me a few cents to place an item on ETSY and a few more for PayPal to process it. Everything about that I will be donating to Mercury One and the Nazarene Project. It is the prayer of the folks at Mercury One to raise $3 million dollars before Christmas to get many of these families out of the Middle East.

The United States will not take them, but other countries will. It takes $25,000.00 to rescue one family. The pennies I will earn from ETSY are the only way I can help.

It is my joy to ask you to help me help them.And it will be my joy to pray for each and everyone of you who buys this little offering I am making to pray for you and your families by name every day this year.

True joy comes to me when I serve God and place myself out there to serve others.

Not a Chiropractor

I had a wonderful phone call this week that brought a 'laugh out loud' moment into my day. Laughing - that really full body laugh - is a great source of joy. Let me share this crazy moment.

I spent nearly 20 years as a private practice counselor licensed to practice in Ohio. I closed my practice at the end of 2013. Now I spend my time doing some private life coaching and enjoying the creative part of my life.

The call came from a past client who had been trying to locate me and was excited to find me on the Internet. When she called I could hear hesitancy in her voice. The hesitancy was generated by the Internet. After chatting for a while, she told me how she found me. Google gave her several listings for me. The site she found had gotten two things correct - my name and my phone number. Everything else was wrong. Hilariously wrong.

I decided that I would do the same search she had done. Oh my! I am listed as a chiropractor. No, I don't think so. I really like my chiropractor (http://www.myclevelandchiropractor.com). Dr. Nicholas Cambouris is wonderful. But I have never had a desire to do what he does.

I am also listed as running a business management firm. Oh no! That would be a really bad idea. I enjoyed having my own counseling business but managing businesses for other people - not so much!

I laughed out loud as I read my business descriptions on the Internet. Most were so very wrong. I had a choice to make as I read. I could be annoyed that so much was published erroneously or I could take the moment of joy that a good laugh gave me. Who knows, maybe an Internet search for your name might give you a moment of unexpected laughter!

Enjoy a good laugh when you can. It can bring a moment of joy into your day.